The Bardo Museum

Előszó

Tunisia is a small country with an immense historicai past covering several millenias. Situated on the Mediterranean to the extreme North of the African continent and within easy reach of Europe, Tunisia is one of the jewels of these shores. The first traces of man found here go back somé two millión years with, among*" other evidence, the prehistoric site near Chott El Jerid in Southern Tunisia. Since that time several prehistoric civilisations have thrived on Tunisian soii, among them the prestigious Capsian civilisation which developed in the region of Gafsa - the ancient Capsa -, between the 7th and 5th miilenia. Tunisiaentered history with the comingof the Phoenicians. From the 11 th century BC onwards they set up trading posts along these hospitable shores. An ancient legend telis the story of the Queen of Tyr, Elyssa, who fled her native country to found a new city, Quart Hadasht, Carthage. Whatever the truth may be, the new city thrived tremendously and soon became one of the great metropolises of the Mediterranean. Carthage set about establishing a vast empire not only in Africa, but alsó in Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, etc. The great Greek histórián Thucydides says that the Carthaginian fleet was the strongest in the world. Romé waged three bloody wars against Carthage during the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. before bringing the great city to heel. Once again a legend telis us that Carthage, gone up in flames and smothered under a mountain of salt, became a city cursed by the gods of Rome. Only with Caesar and later with Augustus did Rome and Carthage eventually become totally reconciled. The Romanisation of Carthage and her territories was a great asset for the Román Empire, Carthage becoming, as it were, a platform for the development and prosperity of the Empire in Africa. Once again Carthage became a great metropolis and the capital city of a province known as «the granary of Rome». The policy of Rome during the 2nd and 3rd centuries was to promote the economy of the region. The result was that the development and cultural influence of Africa reached their highest point at that period. Vissza